How often change lancet?

#42

That’s sort of my approach.

If I fail to get enough blood on my first attempt, I’ll try again using the same lancet.

Otherwise, it’s a new lancet every time.

(Ashley) #43

Any recommendations on one?

(Steve) #44

The really cheap one I got is:

Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B077HQPHTJ/

US:
https://www.amazon.com/GREENWON-Professional-Breathalyzer-Semi-conductor-Mouthpieces/dp/B00VFWWNXO/

I think it’ll be fine for when I’m travelling and want to see if I’m in ketosis. (but, you should know, that because it’s rounding, it’s only going to display a non-zero value if your Ketones are higher than 0.5mmol/l

(eg. 1.5 would show up as 0.02)

(Ashley) #45

Ah okay, I’m bad at conversions like that so maybe I wouldn’t even know what my readings were lol!

(Robert C) #46

How often do you change your toilet paper?
(They sell them in the 100s at a time for a reason.)

(Steve) #47

Well, the way I see it, you really just want a binary test. Obsessing about the level of ketones in your blood is somewhat pointless.

(cheryl) #48

LOL good point

(Ashley) #49

That is quite true, I don’t care about how deep it is, I just want to know I’m in Ketosis!

(Duncan Kerridge) #50

You’re supposed to change them? :joy: I think I’ve probably been using the same one for the last 12 months. That box of spares is going to last me a lifetime. A lifetime shortened by some horrible lancet induced infection no doubt…

#51

:smile: I order one box on prescription every year just to keep them “alive” on my repeat script! No point in wasting NHS resources unnecessarily. To share a further truth, I only use my left thumb for finger pricking unless it starts to peel, in which case I will move to left index finger for a few days until said thumb has recovered. Been doing this for years… I do suck my thumb to clean it prior to sticking the lancet in :smile: :smile: :smile:

#52

50 posts in this topic (thanks for the responses!) and not one horror story… yet. I’d say those are pretty good odds - I just hope I didn’t jinx one of us that live dangerously.
Sue

(Robert C) #53

The horror stories are in the ground (without Wi-Fi). :sunglasses:

#54

:open_mouth:

(Doug) #55

I’ve never worried about anything, really, in this realm - and figure the risk is really low.

However, at least somewhat related - in 2007 I got osteomyelitis (an infection in a bone) in two vertebrae in my back. I think this was due to my wife popping a zit (pimple) on my back right in that area a few weeks before. Never was sure whether it was bacterial or viral - they did a biopsy but “nothing grew” in the lab culture, so no help there. If viral, there aren’t really good treatments for it.

An infectious disease specialist put me on a six-week course of intravenous antibiotic infusions, in case it was bacterial, and later extended it another three weeks. Twice a day, going to a hospital, and being hooked up to a pump that shot a bunch of stuff into me. It worked, or else the infection was going away on its own - been fine since.

For all my bravado about “being tough,” and “not worrying about stuff,” that was a rough time - CAT scans or MRIs (can’t remember which) showed that the two vertebrae looked like something was chewing on the outside, gnawing them down, smaller and smaller. The end result was not going to be good.

There was inflammation and who knows what else - the end result was a lot of pressure on the spinal nerves, and I will tell you what - that is some serious, make-you-see-spots-in-front-of-your-eyes pain.

Probably was Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus bacteria, from all I’ve read. Very glad that whatever it was - it went away in the end.

So I think that there is a “roll of the dice” aspect to this.

(Robert C) #56

54 posts in this topic and not two horror stories… yet.

#57

So the moral of the story is: It’s safer to re-use lancets than it is to pop zits. :wink:
Sue

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #58

Why roll the dice when lancets are so cheap, relatively? There’s a lot of better ways to save money than subjecting yourself to biohazards over a few bucks. You’re literally sticking yourself with a dirty needle. Why the need?

#59

Logically what you say, of course, makes total sense. It IS stupid to risk anything for a matter of pennies. But for me it’s not a cost thing, it’s a time thing. Again, you can argue that it only takes a few seconds to change it, and you’re right. But often I am literally walking by where I keep my equipment and want to grab, poke, read, and run. To pull out the bag/box of lancets, open the lancet (which I end up dropping whenever I’m doing that), fishing it out from under the bed, putting it back together, and then checking, then making sure I properly dispose of the used lancet, I’ve probably added 2-3 minutes. Sounds insignificant, and it is, but it’s my reason for not changing each time. Granted, I need to slow down my pace in life.
Sue

(Aimee Moisa) #60

Oh, yeah, that’s another thing. Who doesn’t suck their finger to stop the blood? That’s got to be a million times worse than a re-used lancet.

(Aimee Moisa) #61

I don’t want to put more dirty needles into the waste system and then have them show up on the beach near my house.